I never thought it was "real" improv, as proven by the large number of experienced comedy writers listed as producers and consultants on its end credits…but I still enjoyed the American edition of Whose Line Is It Anyway? hosted by Drew Carey. I watched 'em when ABC ran them in prime time and I watched reruns on the ABC Family Channel until I got sick of seeing the same episodes repeated over and over. So it's nice to hear that starting January 17, ABC Family will be running what they're calling "new" episodes. I suspect they'll be filtering them in with the reruns I don't want to watch again but perhaps my TiVo can figure out the difference.
There seems to be some confusion as to just what these "new" episodes are. When Whose Line? went off ABC, there were reportedly a number of shows that had not aired, and some sources are saying that these are the ones that will start next month. Other sources claim that any leftover episodes from the end of the network run have already aired on ABC Family and that what they're doing now is to go back to the old tapes and build new episodes out of leftover material. One of the quiet secrets of both versions of Whose Line? (British and American) is that at each taping, they played many more games than necessary to fill out a half-hour, then chose the best ones to air. This is why, at the end of each game, the performers always return to their chairs, even if they're in the next bit. It makes it easier to chop out or rearrange segments if they all start with all four players seated.
If that's what they're doing — using material that failed to make the cut the first time around — this would probably mean a lot of bits taped during the show's first year. That season, they usually taped for 2 hours and whittled it down to one half-hour show. In later years, they generally taped a little longer but would cut the proceedings into four or even five shows. Does anyone have any firm details on whether this is what's being done?
One hopes they'll also run the one "lost" episode from the program's first season on ABC. One night in 1999, the show was preempted at the last minute by a Barbara Walters interview of Monica Lewinsky, and the scheduled episode never ran. Fans assume that this was because it was one of the few without Wayne Brady, who by then was becoming one of the most popular folks on the series. (His slot in that episode was filled by Patrick Bristow, who had appeared on the British version of Whose Line?) It would be nice to see it for the first time instead of the episode with Richard Simmons for the eightieth…and the points still won't mean a thing.